Month: September 2020

Scientists say they have found what may be the oldest specimen of fossilized sperm ever discovered, inside a tiny crustacean trapped in a piece of amber 100 million years ago.The researchers say the discovery in amber from Myanmar’s Kachin province, described in a paper published Wednesday in the science journal Proceedings of the Royal Society of Biological Sciences, provides an extremely rare opportunity to study the evolution of the reproductive process.The scientists suspect the crustacean in which the sperm was found, a newly discovered species of ostracod about 1 millimeter long, was likely covered in amber shortly after mating.They say the sperm cell found in the animal was significant, not only because of the age of the specimen but also because of its size — about one-fifth the size of the entire animal that produced it.The researchers say that while most animals produce huge numbers of tiny sperm, there are still animals that exist today that produce so-called “giant” sperm. Some modern ostracods and species of fruit flies produce sperm many times longer than their bodies.One of the authors of the study, the University of Munich’s Renate Matzke-Karasz, says the most significant aspect of the discovery is that it shows this method of reproduction has been around a very long time.The researchers say it is unclear what evolutionary advantage producing a small number of giant sperm, as opposed to a large number of tiny sperm, may have. While a large sperm might have a better chance of reaching an egg, the reproductive organs of the animal producing them must be large as well, which would require a lot of “biological energy.”Matzke-Karasz says that before this discovery, evolutionary scientists questioned whether animals that developed this type of reproductive system were doomed to extinction. Now, she says, they know they can exist for millions of years. 
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The U.N. Secretary-General warned Wednesday the coronavirus pandemic is “out of control,” and he called for global solidarity in making a future vaccine affordable and available to all.
“The virus is the No. 1 global security threat in our world today,” Antonio Guterres told reporters.
There have been nearly 30 million confirmed cases worldwide of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and more than 936,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which tracks global data on the virus.People wearing face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus walk in downtown Madrid, Spain, Sept. 16, 2020.Guterres spoke ahead of Tuesday’s start of the U.N. General Assembly annual debate, which typically draws more than a hundred presidents, prime ministers and other senior officials to New York each year. But due to the pandemic, leaders will send pre-recorded video messages, and side meetings will be held virtually.
The U.N. chief said he will appeal next week for full implementation of his March 23 call for a global cease-fire by the end of this year so all attention could be focused on defeating the virus.
As scientists around the globe race to find an effective COVID-19 vaccine, Guterres cautioned that “there is no panacea” for the pandemic.
“A vaccine alone cannot solve this crisis, certainly not in the near term,” he said. “We need to massively expand new and existing tools that can respond to new cases and provide vital treatment to suppress transmission and save lives, especially over the next 12 months.”
He emphasized that a vaccine must be affordable and available to all, saying it must be seen as a “global public good.” He expressed concern that conspiracy theories and misinformation are spreading about a future vaccine, which could deter vast numbers of people from being inoculated.
The U.N. chief has been a vocal advocate for climate action.He said the global economic recovery from COVID-19 should be aligned with mitigating climate change and achieving development goals.
“The world is burning,” Guterres said of the warming planet. “Recovery is our chance to get on track and tame the flames.”
The United Nations marks its 75th anniversary this year. It was created in 1945in the aftermath of World War II to prevent another global conflict.
“In this 75th anniversary year, we face our own 1945 moment,” Guterres reflected. “We must meet that moment.” 
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The U.S. government announced sanctions Wednesday on two Russian nationals for their role in the theft of at least $16.8 million worth of cryptocurrency.In the phishing scheme, which was conducted in 2017 and 2018, Danil Potekhin and Dmitrii Karasavidi allegedly created web sites that looked like legitimate currency exchange sites. Victims would enter their information, which was then used to access real accounts.The two, who were identified by the Treasury Department and the Department of Homeland Security, then allegedly laundered the stolen cryptocurrencies through multiple virtual currency exchanges using fake profiles.“The individuals who administered this scheme defrauded American citizens, businesses and others by deceiving them and stealing virtual currency from their accounts,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said in a statement. “The Treasury Department will continue to use our authorities to target cybercriminals and remains committed to the safe and secure use of emerging technologies in the financial sector.”According to the statement, the government seized millions of dollars in virtual currency and U.S. dollars in an account owned by Karasavidi.
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Indonesia has had more than 220,000 COVID-19 cases and the country still hasn’t reached its peak. Social distancing is an important part of controlling the virus and new technology aims to help people stay safely apart. VOA’s Rendy Wicaksana reports from Bandung, West Java, Indonesia.
Camera: Rendy Wicaksana 
 
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U.S prosecutors announced charges on Wednesday against five suspected Chinese hackers and two Malaysian businessmen in connection with cyber-attacks on more than 100 companies in the United States and abroad.The five Chinese hackers, one of whom allegedly bragged about ties to China’s civilian intelligence service, remain at large. The two Malaysian businessmen, accused of conspiring with two of the hackers to profit from hacks on gaming companies, were arrested in Malaysia on Sept. 14, the Justice Department announced.The Chinese hackers were charged in two separate indictments handed down in August 2019 and August 2020. The Malaysian businessmen were charged in a third indictment returned in August, 2020.U.S. prosecutors alleged the hackers targeted a wide range of entities, including software development firms, computer hardware manufacturers, telecommunications providers, social media companies, video game companies, non-profit organizations, universities, think tanks, and foreign governments, as well as pro-democracy politicians and activists in Hong Kong.”The Department of Justice has used every tool available to disrupt the illegal computer intrusions and cyberattacks by these Chinese citizens,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen. “Regrettably, the Chinese communist party has chosen a different path of making China safe for cybercriminals so long as they attack computers outside China and steal intellectual property helpful to China.”In addition to charging the suspects, U.S. authorities seized hundreds of accounts, servers, domain names, and command-and-control (C2) “dead drop” web pages used by the defendants to conduct their computer intrusion offenses.The indictments are the latest in a series of charges against suspected Chinese hackers and come as amid growing tensions between the U.S. and China over the coronavirus pandemic, trade, and Hong Kong.President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed China for the spread of the coronavirus and top administration officials have publicly called out China for cyber-intrusions and other alleged misbehavior on the global stage in support of its strategic objectives.In July, Attorney General William Barr accused China of engaging in an “economic blitzkrieg” to supplant the United States as the world’s only superpower, and he warned U.S. businesses not to bow to Chinese pressure in pursuit of profit.
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Kim Kardashian West, Katy Perry and Leonardo DiCaprio are among celebrities taking part in a 24-hour Instagram “freeze” on Wednesday to protest against what they say is parent company Facebook’s failure to tackle violent and hateful content and election misinformation.
They were among the high profile names lending their backing to the “#StopHateforProfit” movement’s latest campaign. The movement asks people to put up a message highlighting what they called the damage Facebook does but otherwise refrain from posting on Instagram for a day.
“I can’t sit by and stay silent while these platforms continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda and misinformation – created by groups to sow division and split America apart – only to take steps after people are killed,” Kardashian West posted on her Instagram account on Tuesday.
Facebook declined to comment but pointed to recent announcements about what it’s doing to limit the reach on its platform of groups that support violence and its efforts to protect the U.S. election in November.  
With 188 million followers, Kardashian West is one of the most influential people on Instagram and support from her and other big names for the boycott saw Facebook shares slide in aftermarket trading late Tuesday. They were down 1.3% ahead of the market open on Wednesday.
The organizers behind “#StopHateforProfit,” including civil rights groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP and Color Of Change, had previously led a campaign that got hundreds of companies and groups to join a Facebook advertising boycott in July.  
Ashton Kutcher, Mark Ruffalo, Kerry Washington, Rosario Dawson, Jamie Foxx and Sacha Baron Cohen were among at least two dozen other Hollywood stars supporting the campaign, the organizers said.  
DiCaprio said he was standing with the civil rights groups to call “on all users of Instagram and Facebook to protest the amplification of hate, racism, and the undermining of democracy on those platforms.”  
Social media companies, led by Facebook, are facing a reckoning over what critics call indefensible excuses for amplifying divisions, hate and misinformation on their platforms.
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Two Boeing 737 MAX crashes that killed all 346 passengers and crew aboard were the “horrific culmination” of failures by the planemaker and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a U.S. House panel concluded after an 18-month investigation.
The crashes “were not the result of a singular failure, technical mistake, or mismanaged event,” the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Democratic majority said in its highly critical report released on Wednesday.
“They were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing’s engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing’s management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA.”
The 737 MAX was grounded in March 2019 after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 near Addis Ababa which killed all 157 aboard.
In October 2018, a Lion Air 737 MAX had crashed in Indonesia killing all 189 on board.
“Boeing failed in its design and development of the MAX, and the FAA failed in its oversight of Boeing and its certification of the aircraft,” the report said, detailing a series of problems in the plane’s design and the FAA’s approval of it.
Boeing said it “learned many hard lessons as a company from the accidents … and from the mistakes we have made.”
It said it had cooperated fully with the House committee and that revised design work on the 737 MAX had received intensive internal and external review involving more than 375,000 engineering and testing hours and 1,300 test flights.
The FAA said in a statement it would work with lawmakers “to implement improvements identified in its report.”
It added it was “focused on advancing overall aviation safety by improving our organization, processes, and culture.”
The report said Boeing made “faulty design and performance assumptions” especially regarding a key safety system, called MCAS, which was linked to both the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes.
MCAS, which was designed to help counter a tendency of the MAX to pitch up, could be activated after data from only a single sensor.
The FAA is requiring new safeguards to MCAS, including requiring it receive data from two sensors, before it allows the 737 MAX to return to service.
The report criticized Boeing for withholding “crucial information from the FAA, its customers, and 737 MAX pilots” including “concealing the very existence of MCAS from 737 MAX pilots.”
The FAA “failed to ensure the safety of the traveling public,” the report said.
Lawmakers have proposed numerous reforms to restructure how the FAA oversees aircraft certification. A Senate committee will take up a reform bill Wednesday.
Lawmakers suggested Boeing was motivated to cut costs and move quickly to get the 737 MAX to market.
“This is a tragedy that never should have happened,” House Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio told reporters.
“We’re going to take steps in our legislation to see that it never happens again as we reform the system.”
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Fires burning in California are the largest on record. In Washington state, a larger area burned in five days than have burned in any previous year on record save one. And in Oregon, one-tenth of the state’s population was under fire evacuation warnings or orders last week. Scientists say climate change is making fires worse in the American West. VOA’s Steve Baragona has more.
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Heavy rain and pounding surf driven by Hurricane Sally hit the Florida and Alabama coasts Tuesday as forecasters expected the slow-moving storm to dump continuous deluges before and after landfall, possibly triggering dangerous, historic flooding along the northern Gulf Coast. “It’s going to be a huge rainmaker,” said Phil Klotzbach, a research scientist and meteorologist at Colorado State University. “It’s not going to be pretty.” The National Hurricane Center expected Sally to remain a Category 1 hurricane, with top sustained winds of 130 kilometers per hour at landfall late Tuesday or early Wednesday. The storm’s sluggish pace made it harder to predict exactly where its center will strike. The hurricane’s slow movement exacerbated the threat of heavy rain and storm surge. Sally remained dangerous even after losing power, its fiercest winds having dropped considerably from a peak of 161 kph on Monday. Waves crash near a pier at Gulf State Park, in Gulf Shores, Ala., Sept. 15, 2020.Tuesday evening, hurricane warnings stretched from east of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to Navarre, Florida. Rainfall of up to 50 centimeters was forecast near the coast. There was a chance the storm could also spawn tornadoes and dump isolated rain accumulations of more than 75 centimeters.  Heavy rain and surf pounded the barrier island of Navarre Beach, Florida, on Tuesday afternoon and road signs wobbled in the gusty wind.  Rebecca Studstill was among those watching. Studstill, who lives inland, was wary of getting stuck on the island, saying police close bridges once the wind and water get too high. “Just hunkering down would probably be the best thing for folks out here,” she said. Two large casino boats broke loose Tuesday from a dock where they were undergoing construction work in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. M.J. Bosarge, who lives near the shipyard, said at least one of the riverboats had done considerable damage to the dock. “You really want to get them secured because with wind and rain like this, the water is constantly rising,” Bosarge said. “They could end up anywhere. There’s no telling where they could end up.” A man carries empty fuel containers in Gulf Shores, Ala., Sept. 15, 2020.In Orange Beach, Alabama, towering waves crashed onshore Tuesday as Crystal Smith and her young daughter, Taylor, watched. They drove more than an hour through sheets of rain and whipping wind to take in the sight. “It’s beautiful, I love it,” Crystal Smith said. “But they are high. Hardly any of the beach isn’t covered.” Capt. Michael Thomas, an Orange Beach fishing guide, secured boats and made other last-minute preparations. He estimated up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain had fallen in as many hours. “I’m as prepared as I can be,” Thomas said. A couple kilometers away in Gulf Shores, Alabama, waves crashed over the end of the long fishing pier at Gulf State Park. Some roads in the town already were covered with water. Stacy Stewart, a senior specialist with the National Hurricane Center, warned that floods in the affected areas could be deadly.  “This is going to be historic flooding along with the historic rainfall,” Stewart said. “If people live near rivers, small streams and creeks, they need to evacuate and go somewhere else.” Donald Jones, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Louisiana, said Sally could unleash flooding similar to what Hurricane Harvey inflicted in 2017 when it swamped the Houston metropolitan area. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Tuesday that people in the southern part of the state should prepare for heavy rain and the potential for flash flooding, even if the hurricane comes ashore to the east. He said about 120 people were in shelters in Mississippi. As rain grew heavier Tuesday, many businesses appeared to be closed at exits along the I-10 highway that runs parallel to the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to Florida. Waters from the Gulf of Mexico poor onto a local road, in Waveland, Miss., Sept. 14, 2020.In Gulfport, Mississippi, white plastic bags hung over some gas station pumps to signal they were out of fuel. Along a bayou that extended inland from the Gulf, three shrimp boats were tied up as shrimpers and others tried to protect their boats from waves and storm surge. Most boat slips at Gulfport’s marina were empty. Metal storm shutters or plywood covered the windows of many businesses. David Espinosa walked the streets of Pascagoula, Mississippi, Tuesday afternoon, drenched by the rain. He wasn’t worried much about Sally, having found his pickup truck in a tree after Hurricane Katrina wrecked much of Mississippi’s coast in 2005. Espinosa had just moved back to the area days earlier, after a long stint in Oklahoma City. “We just didn’t know there would be another hurricane when we got back,” Espinosa said. “Here we go again.” In Alabama, officials closed the causeway to Dauphin Island and the commuter tunnel that runs beneath the Mobile River.  Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey urged residents near Mobile Bay and low-lying areas near rivers to evacuate if conditions still permitted a safe escape. The National Hurricane Center predicted storm surge along Alabama’s coast, including Mobile Bay, could reach 6 feet (1.8 meters) above ground. “This is not worth risking your life,” Ivey said during a news conference Tuesday. The storm was moving at only 4 kph late Tuesday, centered south of Mobile, Alabama, and southwest of Pensacola, Florida. Hurricane-force winds stretched 65 kilometers from its center. After making landfall, Sally was forecast to cause flash floods and minor to moderate river flooding across inland portions of Mississippi, Alabama, northern Georgia and the western Carolinas through the rest of the week. Emergency declarations President Donald Trump issued emergency declarations for parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on Monday, and tweeted that residents should listen to state and local leaders. The threat to Louisiana eased as officials in some areas reversed evacuation orders that had been issued for areas that had been feared to be a risk of flooding from Sally.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared an emergency in 13 counties. On the barrier island of Pensacola Beach, Florida, the Sandshaker Lounge was open Tuesday afternoon, filled with about 30 locals and tourists staying at nearby hotels. “I think I’m the only business open,” said bartender Kyra Smith. “It’s pretty windy, but nobody’s being knocked down. We want everybody to be safe.” Smith said most locals have lived in the area for decades and have weathered many storms bigger than Sally. “We’re just going to ride it out,” she said. 
 
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Scientists at a Russian university have announced the discovery of a remarkably well-preserved ice age cave bear, with much of its soft tissue including its nose, flesh and teeth intact.In a statement, scientists from North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk say reindeer herders on Great Lyakhovsky island in the New Siberian Islands archipelago discovered the carcass in the melting permafrost. NEFU is considered the premier center for research into woolly mammoths and other prehistoric, ice age species.Scientists at the research center have hailed the find as ground-breaking. Previously, scientists had only the bone of cave bears to study. The species, or subspecies, lived in Eurasia in the Middle and Late Pleistocene period and became extinct about 15,000 years ago.Preliminary analysis suggests this specimen to be between 22,000 and 39,500 years old, but it will be carbon dated to confirm that.Recent years have seen major discoveries of mammoths, woolly rhinos, ice age foal, several puppies and cave lion cubs as the permafrost inside the Arctic Circle melts. 
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